The 'No Kings' Movement Is Sheer Hypocrisy

Townhall 

I’m convinced that the majority of people who take part in the “No Kings” marches have absolutely no idea what they are doing. The Democratic masses are, sadly but inexcusably, nothing but ignorant, foolish sheep, being led to the slaughter by their “shepherds,” who are wolves in wool. The sheep are taught to hate Donald Trump, and so, like Pavlov’s dogs, when the bell rings, they slobber and shout “Nazi!” “No king!” etc. Many of them probably actually believe Donald Trump wants to be king. It will never happen, even if Trump wanted it. You and I wouldn’t allow it. That’s what we rebelled against, remember.

But while the Democratic masses are ignorant sheep, their “shepherds” know exactly what they are doing and what they want. And they do want a king, or a perfect facsimile thereof. Xi Jinping isn’t called the “king” of China, but he is a dictator—the same thing as an absolute monarch (which most monarchs in history were, until America came along and led the world away from that). And absolute monarchs, or “dictators,” run totalitarian governments, and that is certainly what the Democrats lust after. And they aren’t going to quit or give up until they get it.

And the “shepherds” must be laughing their heads off at the “useful idiots”—the masses in their movement—because the sheep really believe the rhetoric about their shepherds wanting “democracy.” Create a totalitarian government and call it “democracy.” That is exactly what China does. Go over there and ask the common people. Many of them (the “sheep” there) will tell you, “China is a democracy.” Well, the official title of the country is the “People’s Republic of China”—notice, it belongs to the “people.” That’s “democracy.” North Korea is even more cynical—the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” I sometimes have to shake my head in wonder at the incredible…naivety of the Democratic Party “sheep.” Why can’t they see this? I mean, I’m far from a genius and I’ve learned it, so why can’t they?

The Democratic Party “sheep” honestly believe their Leftist “shepherds” in America want a “democracy,” when the Marxist Left, all around the world, has never produced a democracy, only totalitarian dictatorships that have murdered, oppressed, and impoverished people by the hundreds of millions. Why will the Left in America be any different? I mean, if I can see it, why can’t they?

The truth of the matter is, Leftist “shepherds” have actually said they want a totalitarian government. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a few months ago, publicly announced, directly contrary to America’s Declaration of Independence, that our rights do not come from God; they come from government. Folks, you cannot have a more perfect and purer definition of totalitarianism than to say our rights come from government. Such a system gives the government total power, because any rights the government gives us, it can take away. If all our rights come from the government, then they are the masters (“shepherds”) and we are the slaves (“sheep”) and we can only do what they allow us to do. The people don’t—a la the Declaration of Independence and Constitution—tell government what to do, government tells the people what to do! That is exactly the system the “People’s Republic of China” and the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” have, and it is exactly what Tim Kaine said, what the Democratic Party believes, and thus, what they want to give to the American people. And yet, their “sheep” believe Donald Trump wants to be “king.” Joseph Goebbels and the “Big Lie” definitely live in America today, and it’s in the socialist party as it was in Nazi Germany.

“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” So said the great “democrat” Vladimir Lenin, and his lies produced the “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.” And the current Democratic Party masses of sheep believe every lie their shepherds tell them.

As noted, the Democratic Party “shepherds” know exactly what they are doing. Just for one example, they turn massive numbers of criminals and barbarians loose in the country for the sole purpose of creating chaos, destruction, and fear. They encourage licentiousness, irreligion, and promiscuity for the same reason, for people who cannot control themselves will need some outside force (government) to do it. Such chaos and fear will eventually cause the people to call for a strong hand (government) to create peace. The Left wants chaos because they want the “king,” the “police state,” the “Nazism” they claim Trump is trying to establish. They might even go along with Trump creating a “police state” as long as they can eventually control it. So, their call for “no king” is hypocritical to the nth degree. They crave an absolutist government that will give the people all their rights and cow them into submission.

Again, that is what the Chinese people suffer now. As long as you keep your head down and your mouth shut—in other words, do what the government tells you to do—then the CCP will…allow you to do whatever the CCP will allow you to do. Remember, I lived there for ten years. I know what I’m talking about.

So, the Left’s ploy in America is to create as many dumb, mindless sheep as possible and tell them every lie they can think of. Fill the streets with as many uncontrolled criminals, barbarians, and perverts as possible, maybe even have a civil war, until the decent people get weary and say “enough!” and give total power to the government. Or the Left takes it by force—which is what usually happens—and cowers the people into obedience. That’s the history in the USSR and China, and it could happen in America.

And the “sheep” refuse to see it. They will eventually be the first ones eaten.

Podcast thread for April 26

 

Whoever your loved ones are, be very thankful you still have them. You never know what could one day happen to them when you least expect it.

(and seriously, why can't the world stop being a 💩 hole for just 1 stinking weekend?!)

Democrats Have Always Created Racism and Always Will

Townhall 

Everyone knows the old adage “divide and conquer,” but for Democrats, it is, and always has been, “divide to conquer.” The political left only offers unpopular policies like open borders and child genital mutilation, and failed economic philosophies in the “ism” realm – socialism, fascism and communism. It’s like selling food that tastes like food odor – no one wants what you’re offering, so you have to find another way to sucker people into buying it. That’s why Democrats spend their time inventing and stoking racism; it’s a very efficient and effective distraction and motivator.

If someone – an individual or a political party – can convince people, they should consider themselves to be part of a group based on immutable characteristics more than individuality; they are halfway to manipulating them into doing pretty much anything they want. Once the idea of identity mattering more than anything else takes hold, the ability to instill fear over “other” groups or individuals trying to harm whatever group is under that moment’s manipulation becomes easy. 

Democrats spend a lot of time and money working to convince people the word “community” means skin color, sexual orientation, gender delusions or whatever else is handy and useful at a given moment. Once someone buys into the idea, they swoop in and offer “protection” from whatever made-up boogeyman they’ve created.

It’s really easy to protect people from something that doesn’t exist – I’d happily sell you a one-time rock that repels unicorns, for example. Just send me $100 and I’ll send you the rock. Put it on your lawn and you will never have your house overrun by unicorns. Lifetime warranty with a 100 percent money-back guarantee included!

That’s basically how the Left-Wing Industrial Complex works, and how Democrats used the Southern Poverty Law Center – they created fear of something that isn’t real, then paid to create evidence of it to keep stoking that fear.

Am I saying there is no racism in the country anymore? Of course not. But there isn’t enough to matter and whenever it is actually found, it is denounced thoroughly.

Oh, and most of it comes from the left and is against white people. I know, a million pearls were just clutched on the coasts. But look at MS Now, popular left-wing podcasts or the pages of any liberal rag and you see progressives, mostly white leftists and extremely wealthy minorities, whining about “structural racism” and “institutional racism” without really defining it…because it’s not real. If it were, they wouldn’t exist.

To the extent that “white supremacy” exists, it’s as a fundraising and motivating tool. It has about as much influence over the events in people’s lives as avoiding stepping on a crack in the sidewalk, preventing the breaking of someone’s mother’s back.

When we found out the SPLC was paying leaders of various, insignificant “hate groups” to keep the cash flowing into their bank accounts, it should not have surprised anyone. They weren’t paying “informants” for information about events like the so-called “unite the right” rally in Charlottesville – that information is public, there is literally nothing to discover about it – it was to make sure those events happened. You don’t pay the leaders of an organization for information on its members; you pay low-level members for information on a group’s leaders. You pay leaders to do things; to hold events to justify your group’s existence in countering them.

Without Democrat Party groups like the KKK, the SPLC wouldn’t be necessary. But the KKK doesn’t exist anymore in any meaningful way – it’s a joke with fewer members nationwide than the average attendance of a WNBA game, the country’s least popular professional sport.

To make this point in my book a few years ago, I wrote, “The Southern Poverty Law Center estimates there are only between 5,000 and 8,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan in the country. If you were an avid consumer of the legacy media, you’d swear there are millions. To give that perspective, split the difference and go with 6,500 KKK members currently, nothing to sniff at. One racist is two racists too many. But 6,500 in a nation of 330 million is a rounding error, not an epidemic.”

Giving it more context, I wrote, “In 1920, Klan membership was estimated at 4 million at a time when there were only 106 million people in the country. We’ve gone from a nation with 3.7 percent Klan membership to one with .0019 percent. Yet the left portrays this country as racist to its core. The average 2016 attendance of a WNBA game was 7,655. That means there were, on average, more than 1,100 more people attending a random game of the country’s least popular professional sport than there are total members of the KKK. If that isn’t progress, what is?”

We should be celebrating the defeat of racism (and the Democrats who engaged in it), but that would be bad for business for Democrats, the media and the Southern Poverty Law Center, so they’ve had to spend decades creating more of it.

They had the money, the will and the need to do it, so they did…and it paid off. The SPLC raised more than $120 million after the events, and they invested a few hundred thousand into Charlottesville, a return rate that would even make the stock portfolio of U.S. Democrat Rep. Nancy Pelosi (CA-11) jealous.

We should be celebrating the effective defeat of racism; instead, Democrats do all they can to create more of it. They turn people against others based on skin color and ethnicity for the sole purpose of amassing more power for themselves and getting rich in the process. It is gross, it is disgusting, it is…progressive and it will surprise no one who actually thinks for themselves and pays attention.

Democrats have always been the party of racial division and hatred for their own advancement. Over the years, they’ve become less overt about it, but no less determined. From when they were the purveyors of slavery to the inventors of Jim Crow and segregation, until today – Democrats have always been the party that uses racism to get what they want. They’ve never changed their goals, only their tactics.

Chick-fil-A Employee Finds and Returns $10,000 in Bathroom, Tries to Refuse Reward

Chick-fil-A Employee Finds and Returns $10,000 in Bathroom, Tries to Refuse Reward

“I was in the right place at the right time, but more than that, my faith teaches me to do what’s right and to care for others,” says Jaydon Cintron.

Joseph L’amour for Today.com

A fast-food worker and good Samaritan made sure a customer was blessed with relief on Easter weekend.

On April 3, Jaydon Cintron, a Chick-fil-A worker in Kinston, North Carolina, became a hero to a customer who had misplaced two envelopes containing $9,833 in cash.

He found them that morning in the men’s restroom.

“They were on the floor next to the toilet. My first thought was just like, ‘Okay, no, this isn’t happening,” Cintron told NBC affiliate WITN on April 7. “Something is wrong.”

According to WITN, one envelope was labeled “First Citizens Bank” with $5,000 inside, and another, labeled “Truist Bank,” had $4,333 inside.

Rather than pocket the money himself, he “picked it up ... and brought it to human resources,” Cintron said.

John McPhaul, the owner-operator of the Kinston Chick-fil-A, says he’s grateful for employees like Cintron.

“Acts like this reflect the values our restaurants aim to uphold each day, and we’re proud to see that lived out here at Chick-fil-A Kinston,” McPhaul said in a statement provided to TODAY.com by Chick-fil-A.

Cintron told the station the money was returned to its owner, who offered him $500 for turning it in.

“I don’t want anything out of this,” he told WITN, declining the money “several times” before he eventually relented.

“I was in the right place at the right time, but more than that, my faith teaches me to do what’s right and to care for others,” Cintron said in a statement provided to TODAY.com by Chick-fil-A. 

“Knowing how devastating it would be to lose something like that, I just wanted to make sure it got back to its owner. I’m grateful I could help and I’m humbled by the response.”

🎭 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓

 

Welcome to 

The 𝐖𝟑𝐏 𝓓𝓐𝓘𝓛𝓨 𝓗𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓻, 𝓜𝓾𝓼𝓲𝓬, 𝓐𝓻𝓽, 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓣𝓗𝓡𝓔𝓐𝓓 

Here’s a place to share cartoons, jokes, music, art, nature, 

man-made wonders, and whatever else you can think of. 

No politics or divisive posts on this thread. 

This feature will appear every day at 1pm mountain time. 

Trump Urges Senate to Pass SAVE Act, Terminate the Filibuster

Townhall 

President Donald Trump has called on the U.S. Senate to pass the SAVE Act. 

The bill aims to require voters to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. The U.S. House passed the bill in April but it has stalled in the Senate. 

Trump posted to social media on Saturday. 

A handful of Republicans have voted against the bill, including Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) 

The SAVE Act needs 60 votes in the Senate to overcome the filibuster. Republicans hold 53 seats. 

Russian Mercenaries and Their Stooges Routed As Insurgents Seem Poised to Topple Mali's Government

RedState 

Islamist militants and separatists launched a coordinated series of attacks across the West African nation of Mali on Saturday, threatening to overthrow the ruling military junta and put a spoke in the wheels of Russia’s Sahel strategy.

Since 2021, Mali has been ruled by a military junta led by General Assimi Goïta. Goïta overthrew a very weak and nominally constitutional government and inherited a dumpster fire of poverty, criminality, and insurgency. The French had provided a bulwark against the Islamist factions through the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), halting the 2012 Islamist advance, evolving into Barkhane (2014–22). By 2023, Mali had soured on the UN presence, and the Goïta junta expelled it shortly after taking power. This left Mali still in need of an effective military to combat secular Tuareg-Arab separatists in the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA, including MNLA) seeking autonomy or independence for Azawad, along with al-Qaeda (represented by Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, abbreviated as JNIM) and the homegrown ISIS offshoot Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS). As we’ve seen elsewhere, the Islamists generally cooperate, but occasionally they have disagreements over who is the more radical and turn to internecine violence to settle the argument.

To meet this need, Mali called on Russia’s Wagner Group, a private military corporation. Wagner did what it does best: it proceeded to murder civilians and create more insurgents for the government to deal with. When Wagner Group staged its mutiny (see Russia Faces Either a Military Mutiny or Coup D'Etat From Wagner PMC Boss Prigozhin), the survivors were sent to Mali. Wagner Group’s involvement was part of a larger Russian “Sahel Strategy.” The purpose of this strategy was to offer “unconditional security assistance, insulating military elites from domestic opposition and international pressure, while simultaneously advancing Russia’s own interests: resource extraction, political influence, and great power posturing.”

Russia’s approach to the Sahel can be best described as opportunistic. Rather than advancing a coherent regional policy, Moscow has capitalized on its deepening security crises and deteriorating relationships between Sahelian regimes and their Western partners. Over the past decade, the Sahel has been plagued by multidimensional security challenges: a surge in jihadist insurgencies, ethno-nationalist independencemovements, and severe resource and climate-based inequalities. These overlapping crises set the stage for a wave of military coups beginning in 2020, ultimately resulting in the establishment of military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. France’s decade-long counterinsurgency mission, Operation Barkhane, further strained relations between Sahelian governments and their Western allies, as it failed to deliver meaningful security improvements. Barkhane’s limited successes made it particularly vulnerable to criticism, a vulnerability Russia quickly exploited. Through its mercenary proxies, Russia offered disillusioned Sahelian regimes an alternative security partnership devoid of democratic or human rights preconditions.

The strategy also includes fomenting the occasional coup; see BREAKING: Unconfirmed Reports of Wagner Group Personnel Aiding Coup in Niger.

Wagner Group proved no more competent in non-atrocity-producing operations in Mali than it had been in Ukraine. In July 2024, it got its butt spanked hard, and in a non-sexual way, by CMA fighters; see Russia's Wagner Group Suffers Major Defeat at the Hands of Tuareg Rebels in Mali. Somewhere along the way, Wagner Group’s African subsidiary was named, unironically, Africa Corps, perhaps thinking that naming Wagner Group after a competent organization would symbiotically create one.

That brings us up to today. The attacks concentrated on the core of government power in Bamako and the Russian military base at Kate, about ten miles northwest of the capital. 

The attacks were part of an offensive rather than an effort to drive isolated garrisons of the Malian Armed Forces (often abbreviated FAMa) and its allied militias out of core CMA/JNIM/ISGS areas.

Allegedly, the Malian defense minister has been captured by al-Qaeda fighters.

If the insurgents are operating inside the capital, the largest military base is under their control, a provincial capital has been taken, and the defense minister has been captured, the war may not be over, but you can hear Lizzo warming up backstage.

“The coordinated, high-level attacks through the country, along with their visibility and ability to operate so freely, is unprecedented,” said Andrew Lebovich, a research fellow with the Clingendael Institute who focuses on Mali. “It’s hard to see how anything is the same after this.”

A collapse of the Russian-supported government in Mali will bring an end to their African adventure. Of course, it will leave jihadists with a launchpad for terrorist attacks and, in the long run, it will require someone, probably us, to dig them out.

Scientists Grow Tree from 1,000-year-old Seed Found in Cave–May Be Lost Medicinal Plant in the Bible

Scientists Grow Tree from 1,000-year-old Seed Found in Cave–May Be Lost Medicinal Plant in the Bible

Andy Corbley for Goodnews.net

Dr. Sallon holding her sprout 14 years ago – credit, Guy Eisner, supplied to the media

During an archaeological dig in a desert area north of Jerusalem 40 years ago, a seed was discovered which was determined to be in pristine condition but had obviously seen many a year.

Now, despite falling from its parent 1,000 years ago, it has grown into a mature tree, and botanists examining it believe it may be an extinct species that was used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years—even receiving a nod in the Bible.

Neither Israeli botanists, nor Dr. Sarah Sallon, a physician who founded the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem, could determine what species it was from simply from the seed covering. So they did what nature intended—they planted it.

Using a well-documented technique that saw 2,000-year-old date palm fruit pits germinate, study coauthor Dr. Elaine Solowey, a researcher emerita at the Center for Sustainable Agriculture at The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Israel, soaked the seed in hormones, liquid fertilizer, and water, and then planted it in a pot of sterile seed; then waited.

Despite its genetic code being exposed to environmental stressors for over 1,000 years, the seed sprouted after 5 weeks. The shoot was protected by a caplike feature called an operculum. As the shoot grew, the operculum was shed—leaving something for the team to radiocarbon date. It narrowed down the age of the almost 10-centuries-old seed to between the years 993 and 1202.

The tree, now 14 years old- credit, Guy Eisner, supplied to the media

Fast forward 14 years and the plant has become a 10-foot-tall tree. Dr. Sallon shared images of the tree, its bark, and its leaves with botanists around the world. One expert suggested it belonged to the genus Commiphora, found across the Arabian Peninsula and parts of Africa. A genetic analysis subsequently revealed this was the case, but a perfect match was lacking.

Dr. Sallon and her team thought it was an extinct species known from history as Judean Balsam, but the best way to confirm that suspicion would be to have some aromatic traces similar to the resins of the myrrh tree to which it is related. However, no such fragrant compounds were detected.

Instead, the chemical analysis of the leaves identified a group of phytochemicals known as guggulterols which have been observed in a related species called Commiphora wightii that’s known to possess certain cancer-fighting properties in its resin.

A medicinal balm, the origin of which is not known, is mentioned in multiple historical texts including the Bible as ‘tsori,’ and rather than the fragrant Judean Balsam, it’s this tsori that Dr. Sallon and her team believe they have found.

They must wait until the tree, now 14 years old, produces flower or fruit to know for sure if it’s an extinct species, and if so, how to perhaps keep it alive.

Dr. Louise Colville, senior research leader in seed and stress biology at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London who wasn’t involved in the research, told CNN that it was a major accomplishment to grow a seed that old and possibly lead to a resurrection of this Biblical botanical.

“What’s surprising in this story is it was just a single seed and to be able to have one chance for that to germinate is extremely lucky,” she said.

“Working in a seed bank, seeing the potential for that extreme longevity gives us hope that banking and storing seeds that some at least will survive for very long periods of time.”

New 'European NATO' Proposal Is Earning a Lot of Mockery

RedState 

The NATO allies in Europe have had peace and security for decades because of the United States. 

We provided a shield to protect them for years. But for years, they weren't taking their defense commitments seriously. NATO member states agreed in 2006 to spend at least 2 percent of their GDP. 

When President Donald Trump came in, in his first term, he had to push them to comply. Prior presidents hadn't held their feet to the fire. Meanwhile, they were spending on social programs, with some deriding us for not doing the same spending. On top of that, the EU was importing a lot of oil from Russia, while having us defend them from Russia and asking for more money to help defend Ukraine. It was an unhinged approach. Trump managed to finally get some of them to pay that fair share they agreed to, to defend themselves. 

But the relationship hit another rocky patch when some of the allies wouldn't even let us have overflight rights to cross their territory or use our bases in their countries for Operation Epic Fury against Iran. Why do we have bases there, if they aren't even going to let us use them? As Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, they were acting like this relationship was a one-way street: we provide for them, while they fail to come through for us. 

As a consequence, President Donald Trump is considering various options, including moving bases to more amenable nations. While the law prevents him from withdrawing without Congressional approval, he can take a variety of actions, like that to make a point and ensuring that America's interests are protected. 

Now, a former Secretary General has a new proposal to address the obvious issues that have arisen, and it's receiving some well-deserved mockery. 

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the organization's secretary-general from 2009 - 2014, is proposing that Britain and France lead a new European NATO-like alliance to take responsibility for Europe's defense, without help from the United States. 

Mr Rasmussen has suggested expanding the Coalition of the Willing - an alliance of 35 countries set up to defend Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire - so it can take over Europe's conventional defence role.

He identified France and Britain as the leading members of an expanded alliance, citing their nuclear capabilities as a key factor. 

The most common response to this from Americans on X was what Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said: "Your terms are acceptable." 

They should be looking out for their own defense.

Rasmussen is not actually saying they should get rid of NATO; he's proposing they have both this idea and NATO. 

The other thing is that the assertion about the U.K. and France is pretty laughable. 

The British Navy, once upon a time, was a world power. Now, with what's going on with Iran, more of a spotlight was put on how far they have fallen. Their "navy" - what's left of it - has been termed "weak" and "embarrassing" by some. And let's not even get into France, known more for surrendering than fighting.

If they were capable, they would have been able to respond immediately to deal with the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, they waffled and wouldn't put themselves out there. Even now, this week, they were clapping themselves on the back that they "talked" about what they might do to help in the Strait, after all the fighting was over. 

So incredibly weak. That's what Rasmussen is talking about? 

Well, then, they'd better brush up on their Russian, because if I were European, I wouldn't trust these characters to even carry a picnic basket. Plus, they'd all have to pay more money, and they've shown they have issues with that. 

Bottom line? Even Rasmussen knows they can't survive without the U.S. involved; that's why he doesn't want to get rid of NATO. We saw that as they bent the knee to President Donald Trump in the G7 environment meetings this week, not talking about climate change, allegedly because Trump didn't want to. 

Party That Called Trump 'Hitler' For 8 Years Shocked As Someone Again Tries To Assassinate Him

 

Headline Says It All·Jul 13, 2024 · BabylonBee.com

France Bends the Knee to Trump on G7 Meeting - but They're Whining About It

RedState 

The European reaction to the military action against Iran has delivered up some prime examples of how feckless some of our allies can be in standing with us against a terrorist regime. 

It's made the Trump administration angry with some of them, including France, Spain, and the U.K., as well as reconsidering the U.S. position on NATO. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has gone to town on them to get them back in line.

It may be having some effect. Now it turns out the French and other G7 allies are basically admitting they couldn't do much without the U.S. in the G7 discussions on the environment that just took place on Thursday and Friday.

They removed climate change from the agenda to not upset the U.S., according to a French government official.

"We have chosen not to tackle the climate issue head-on," an adviser to French Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut told reporters. "Why? Because the United States’ positions on this issue are well known, and we felt ... that tackling this issue head-on with the United States within the G7 framework would not send a message of unity."

"We chose to focus on less contentious issues," said the adviser, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

So, instead, at the meeting in Paris, they discussed other issues ranging from biodiversity to water resources, according to this report. What a change - you mean they might actually have to address and deal with real issues? What a concept. Maybe they could actually learn to deal with terrorists, rather than being all talk and strongly worded letters.

However, this is a pretty passive-aggressive take from the French government advisor. The other countries understand how important the United States is to getting anything done, so they're wilting in the face of the Trump administration not buying into their climate panic and acknowledging our importance.

Yet at the same time, you have an advisor leaking this, presumably to blame the United States, so they don't get the blame for not addressing the issues they really want to address. And it's even anonymous, so they can have some plausible deniability. They know their fellow leftists are going to attack them for being weak and bending to Trump, so they're trying to cover themselves. That's lame, and hardly lends to the "unity" they now claim they wanted. It shows again how weak-kneed the French are, with a response like this.

But it sounds like the U.S. addressed these babies appropriately - by not sending a high-level representative to Paris. Instead, they're just sent Usha-Maria Turner, an assistant administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, while the other six countries sent their ministers, according to the Politico report linked above. And frankly, they're lucky that they got anyone at all, and the U.S. didn't blow off the meeting completely.

Seeds Can ‘Hear’ the Rain–And the Sound Waves Make Them Grow Faster Shows MIT Study

Seeds Can ‘Hear’ the Rain–And the Sound Waves Make Them Grow Faster Shows MIT Study

Good News Network

File photo by Ksenia Pixelesse

Seeds may come alive to the soothing sound of rainfall, sensing the drops while they are still beneath the surface, suggests a new study.

A series of experiments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology demonstrated that rice seeds sprouted faster to the sound of rainfall.

The sound of falling droplets effectively shook the seeds out of a dormant state, stimulating them to germinate at a faster rate compared with seeds that were not exposed to the same sound vibrations.

The findings, published yesterday in the journal Scientific Reports, are the first direct evidence that plant seeds and seedlings can sense sounds in nature.

Rice seeds can germinate in either soil or water, and these experiments involved seeds submerged in shallow water.

The researchers suspect that many similar seed types may also respond to the sound of rain.

The MIT team found that when a raindrop hits the surface of a puddle or the ground, it generates a sound wave that makes the surroundings vibrate, including any shallowly submerged seeds.

The vibrations can be strong enough to dislodge a seed’s “statoliths”, tiny gravity-sensing organelles within certain cells of a seed. When the statoliths are jostled, their movement is a signal for seeds and seedlings to grow and sprout.

“The energy of the rain sound is enough to accelerate a seed’s growth,” said study author Professor Nicholas Makris.

Credit: Cadine Navarro / MIT (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

“What this study is saying is that seeds can sense sound in ways that can help them survive.”

ALSO AMAZING: Animals React to Secret Sounds from Plants That We Couldn’t Hear – Until Now

Plants have evolved to sense and respond to many stimuli in their surroundings to help them survive: some plants snap shut when touched, some curl inward when exposed to toxic smells, and most respond to light, reaching toward the sun to help them grow.

Prof. Makris says plants can also sense gravity. A plant’s roots grow down, while its shoots push up against gravity’s pull.

One way that plants sense and respond to gravity is through their statoliths, which are denser than a cell’s cytoplasm and can drift and sink through the cell, like sand in a jar of water.

When a statolith finally settles to the bottom, its resting place on the cell’s membrane is a reflection of gravity’s direction and a signal for where a seed’s root or shoot should grow.

Makris became curious when Cadine Navarro, an MIT graduate, asked him about seeds and sound. They wondered if sound could be enough to jostle the statoliths and stimulate a seed to grow.

“I went back to look at work done by colleagues in the 1980s, who measured the sound of rain underwater,” explained Makris. “If you check, you’ll see it’s much greater than in the air.

“It has to do with the fact that water is denser than air, so the same drop makes larger pressure waves underwater.

“So if you’re a seed that’s within a few centimeters of a raindrop’s impact, the kind of sound pressures that you would experience in water or in the ground are equivalent to what you’d be subject to within a few meters of a jet engine in the air.”

The researchers suspected that such rain-induced sound waves might be enough to jostle statoliths and subsequently stimulate a seed’s growth—and they were right.

Growing 30-40% faster

They submerged around 8,000 individual seeds of rice in shallow tubs of water and exposed sections of them to dripping water.

The researchers varied the size and height of each water droplet to mimic raindrops during light, moderate, and heavy storms. They also used a hydrophone to measure the acoustic vibrations created underwater by the water droplets.

The team compared the measurements to recordings they took in the field, such as in puddles, ponds, wetlands, and soils during rainstorms. Comparisons confirmed that their water droplets in the lab were generating rain-induced acoustic vibrations like those found in nature.

The groups of seeds that were exposed to the sound of water drops were able to germinate 30% to 40% faster than the seed groups that were not exposed to rain sounds but were otherwise in identical conditions.

The team also found that seeds that were closer to the surface could better sense the droplets’ sounds and grow faster, compared to more submerged or more distant seeds.

The researchers believe that there may be a biological advantage to seeds that can sense rain. If seeds are close enough to the surface to respond to the sound of rain, they are likely at an optimal depth to soak up moisture and safely grow to the surface.

The team then worked out calculations to see whether the physical vibrations of the droplets would be enough to jostle the seeds’ microscopic statoliths. They found that the experiments they performed on rice seeds were consistent with their calculations: the sound of rain can dislodge and jostle a seed’s statoliths.

“Brilliant research has been done around the world to reveal the mechanisms behind the ability of plants to sense gravity,” said Prof. Makris.

“It gives new meaning to the fourth Japanese micro-season, entitled ‘Falling rain awakens the soil.’”